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City leaders on Tuesday will pick a date for a special election to determine whether the mayor and three council members should be fired and replaced. The recall election could fall on any Tuesday between April 24 to May 22.

City Clerk Michelle Ascencion is recommending May 1 or 8.

According to Ascencion, there are issues with the other dates. Setting the special election on April 24 would allow for a very short nomination period, the time in which candidates can submit paperwork to run. Setting the recall on May 15 or 22 would be very close to the primary on June 5 and cause confusion with multiple elections mailings, according to Ascencion.

Mayor Tim Flynn and council members Carmen Ramirez, Bert Perello and Oscar Madrigal are facing a recall due to their votes in support of sewer rate hikes. The increase was approved after voters passed Measure M, an initiative written by Aaron Starr to repeal the rates.

Shortly after council finalized the rate increases in May, Starr announced he would begin a recall campaign. Last month, a count of petition signatures was completed. Starr had received enough valid signatures to support a recall.

The next step will be determining who will provide election services for the city. The Ventura County elections division was originally going to provide the services and had quoted a price of $221,000. But the county has recently informed the city clerk that it can not provide the services after April 1 due to the proximity to the June primary.

"I can understand," said Ascencion. "Doing a countywide election is quite an undertaking."

Ascencion said the city is still in talks with the county on providing election services. The city can also opt to hire an elections consultant. That will be decided at a future council meeting.

Former mayoral candidate Lawrence Stein, who also ran for treasurer in 2016, has submitted a statement of intention to run for mayor. Stein said if he wins, he plans to serve just the remainder of Flynn's term, which ends in November.

"I want to be a mayor for four months," Stein said.

That will give him time to work on the city's budget and the agendas of City Council meetings, he said.

Prospective candidates can submit a statement of intention to run now with the city clerk's office but the other necessary paperwork such as a statement of economic interests and supporting signatures must be filed during the nomination period.

If council picks May 1 or 8 as the election date, the nomination period will begin Jan. 25 and last three or four weeks, respectively.

Starr said he does not support the April 24 date because it only allows for a two-week nomination period.

"I want every person who wants to run to be able to run and the best way to ensure that is to give people more than two weeks," he said.

The recall election is different than a typical election because candidates must choose to run for a specific seat. In other words, candidates must decide whether to run against Flynn, Ramirez, Perello or Madrigal.

Voters will be asked a total of eight questions. They will be asked if each of the four incumbents should be recalled and to pick one candidate to succeed each of the incumbents should they be recalled. A person who votes against the recall can still vote for a candidate to succeed the incumbent.

Those issues will be discussed at the meeting, which will begin at 6 p.m. in council chambers, 305 W. Third St.